the best laid plans.

April 4, 2010

i have some good news, some not so good news, and some pretty interesting news.

the good news – i finished the girasole

the not so good news – it’s not as big as i wanted it to be

it’s measuring out to be about 4 feet across.
i’m guessing that i can block it out to about 5 feet.
i wanted it to be at least 6 feet in diameter.

though i’d really love to blame the pattern or the designer, this one was all me. when i started, i knew i wanted to make the blanket, not the shawl. the pattern calls for a aran weight. i subbed in a worsted. the pattern called for a 10.5 but that was WAY to big for the yarn i had chosen.

so i used a 9.

plus, i’m a tight knitter.

this failure is all my own.

(but the fact that you have to fudge the last stitch in the edging is jared flood’s. take that!)

i recognize that it’s beautiful and i put a ton of hard work into this project. but the fact is, it’s like making a sweater that doesn’t fit. you gotta give it to someone it does.

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148 Responses to “the best laid plans.”

i just started reading your blog and then yesterday i discovered google reader so now i know when it’s updated! the girasole is really beautiful. i’m expecting my first child (not a peanut, not a pumpkin, a child – can you sense my annoyance at people naming it after food?) in october and it looks perfect and warm enough for fall. really beautiful work!

My comment is my number? As in I’m number 1? If so, I’m excited to be first and I hope I win. I’m little. It will be a good blanket for me (I know you can’t just pick me, you’re doing it random, but you should consider cheating and just sending it to me). Why am I writing like a four year-old? Maybe it’s because I’m tired. Who knows. I need that blanket, that’s all I know.

I’m not trying to cheat, would just like to say that I am irritated with myself that I was not quicker to the punch. Clearly when I started writing, I was number 1, but apparently I was too slow. Awkward.

I think it turned out beautifully, but I understand being disappointed in an FO that didn’t turn out as you’d pictured it. I would give it a great home. I love that pattern, but I don’t have plans to make the commitment to knit it myself.

your girasole is beautiful! You did a wonderful job on it! I can’t believe your’e giving it away – aren’t your sure you wouldn’t rather keep it as a last minute gift for someone who was bitching because you didn’t make them something? ha ha ha.
I guess I would be .. #5? or #4 – ah who knows – I’ll let you figure it out.
Just really wanted to say – nice job!!!

For all the work you put into this it’s a shame you can’t put it to good use for yourself. But since I’ll be in your neighborhood next year, and possibly taking up knitting myself, I’ll put my number in the ring.

btw, my easter dinner was resolved, we bought tofu dogs for the others.

just found your blog! lol, wished you lived closer, would be fun to have some guy friends as knit buds! lol. Luv the Girasole. I knot the blanket last year but goofed somehow and the inner vs outer did not match up quite right, so frogged it and have not gotten around to re-knitting it yet This, would be beautiful at the foot of the bed or over the back of the love seat! Generous of you ! Hope your easter was a good one!

I confess, if you do give it away and I win, I’m going to make it a gift for my mom – I’ve been promising her a shawl/throw type thing for ages but I’m a slow knitter and keep starting new projects (my WIP collection is ridiculous) so this would be a most excellent Mother’s Day surprise. I’m certain she would LOVE it, so it would definitely go to a good home. :)

I had a similar experience with radiating star blanket. I subbed worsted for aran and somehow was surprised when I had to do about a zillion extra repeats to make it blanket sized. It’s a gorgeous piece that you’re giving away!

I’m in – this is the easiest contest I’ll be in all year! With that horrendous errata in the last part of the pattern, I could never bear to make it myself, but I have no problems benefitting from someone else’s hard work.

Holy crap that is beautiful and I can’t believe you want to give it away even if it is too small. However, I will gladly take it off your hands and keep it for myself because it is that lovely.
monkalicious and Ravelry

OK, now that is stunning. And something that this vintage bitch would be very proud to own! I’m so sorry that all your hard work didn’t end up as planned. Thank you for this generous (and gorgeous) giveaway!
chana on rav

While you guys are pinning , I am pining…..jejeje.
5 feet you say ? It would be perfect for me and cover me completely…..that’s exactly how tall I am.
I would love to win this masterwork and would cherish it for a very long time.

Gor-geous. Girasole – I have loved it ever since I first saw it on Brooklyn Tweed, and I am NEVer going to make it myself – are you nuts?! What does it mean, anyway? I see a car quite often on my morning commute with the plate ‘GIRASOLE’. ANyway, while I fail to see how a blanket ‘wouldn’t fit’ or why you couldn’t add extra rows until it DID fit, if it means that I could become the proud new owner of the blanket, then I am fine with your logic. So, please pick me-me-me-me-me!
Regards, Cheryl from the row behind you in Detroit

Fabulous Girasole in fabulous colour. When blocked, this will be just the right size for me if I win! Thank you so much for your generosity in giving away the blanket but maybe the best thing is that we now know about you and your blog. :-)

My god that’s beautiful… I can’t even fathom giving away something like that. I’d have to find some way to use it elsewhere or something. Whoever it goes to (me perhaps??) is going to be one lucky person!

That is one gorgeous shawl. And the color is to die for. It reminds me of forest, and the sea, and mossy slate roofs on old French buildings, with tiny cups of slap-you-in-the-face coffee. You did an amazing job on it, even if the size is not what you wished. It’s still a shawl with a smoky voice and come-hither eyelashes, that grabs your attention the moment it’s worn into the room.

Wow, that is beautiful. Can’t wait to see it blocked. I love the magic of lace blocking! Also, just found your blog and love it. (I’m digging back through old posts next) Wondering why more knitting blogs don’t use the word bitches? Somehow, it makes me feel like you really know me, you know? hee hee

Being that a) if you are a friend of the Yarn Harlot, you are a friend of mine, b) I am barely 5’3″ and c) my eyes are hazel – which means that lovely shawl will fit and the eyes will magically match the color – , I graciously accept the opportunity to have the chance to wear the stitches of your creation

I think it is beautiful and while I am not little, I am tall and I live in the friggin Arctic, so heavy warm shawls are a must! I would be honoured to receive it and wish I had some crazy knitter friends up here to share in a soupçon of debauchery. Love your blog.

I just found your website through a twitter posted to the Yarn Harlot. The shawl is beautiful, and I’d be honored to wear it if I win. I’m only five foot tall, so it would be just right for a warm winter shawl for me!

Thanks for your generosity in sharing all of your hard work. I look forward to reading your blog on a regular basis. :-)

I think I’ll toss my name into the ring, because that is a beautiful piece of knitting, (“it’s not the size that matters”?) and it would be loved to pieces. I keep meaning to make one for myself, but have yet to get around to it…

As much as I’d like to win the beautiful Girasol, I have to say, can’t you just rip back a bit and fake a few more rounds of increases before the bindoff? But maybe you’re over it (we’ve all been there) and it’s the size it was meant to me. Either way, thanks for the contest and the great read!

Just found your blog via the Harlot. I’m in love. I also confess, if I win it I will be totally greedy and keep it for myself with no guilt whatsoever. (I will take it on tour to show all my friends and family, but in the end it lives at my house.) Abso-freakin-lutely gorgeous. I’m truly in awe.

Long ago, I started a surprise sweater for my boyfriend. The pattern called for size 9 and 11 needles — as a new knitter, I didn’t know ‘gauge,’ and decided that using a size 10 would be a clever ‘compromise.’ I finally finished it after we were married, and it doesn’t fit either of us — but he won’t part with it (awwww!).

Your shawl is beautiful, and whoever receives it will be very lucky, indeed.

You, my dear, are a better person than I. I am not sure at all that I could give away a work like that no matter how “not according to plan” it turned out to be. Me? I’d love to have it, thanks for offering.

Have recently started reading your blog-via the Harlot. Looks like a wonderful blanket to snuggle under. What an amazing piece of knitting-and some amazing generosity. You will earn many good knitterly karma points with this.
If I won it, I’d gift it to my daughter who is expecting her first child (and my first grandchild) any day. She would love it to cuddle her baby under. Every time the phone rings now, I am ready to leave for the hospital, as I am to be there to help coach her through labor, though wild horses couldn’t keep me away.

Nice work on the blanket StephenA. Very nice! I am entering and I usually win things when I least expect it. so I expect to win this blanket. At which time I will attempt to barter for the beautiful Irish hiking scarf that you also made instead. Are there any rules against this type of behavior? Thanks man!